Cash register

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The Büchsenkasse was a forerunner of today's Knappschaftskasse . Charges (so-called cans pfennigs ) for those employed in the mining and metallurgical industry flowed into this fund . Until 1854, the levy was known as a rifle penny. From this fund financial aid was given to sick people, victims of accidents, disabled people or widows and orphans who had died in an accident, as well as grants to schools for miners.

Miners

On December 28, 1260, Bishop Johann I von Hildesheim had a certificate made out with which he confirmed the brotherhood of miners at the church of St. Johannis in the mountain village near Goslar and placed it under his protection. The name "dy knabschaft" is first used for the year 1426 as a name for the workforce in the Freiberg mining district in Saxony. In 1479 the workforces in Schneeberg and Annaberg in the Erzgebirge were referred to as miners' unions, and by the end of the 15th century the term had established itself in almost all German mining districts.

Closely connected with the miners' stock is the concept of the rifle fund.

The oldest written evidence that miners on the Rammelsberg paid in money “in de bussen” - at that time probably as a voluntary solidarity contribution - dates from 1409. The city council of Goslar issued the first binding provisions for the transfer of an obligatory rifle penny to the miners' fund in 1532. In the mining regulations of the following period it was stipulated that the miner who did not meet his obligation to pay was excluded from work. At the time of the noble mining, which had been practiced in the Harz since the 16th century, both the sovereign and the trades paid into the cash register - staggered according to the yield and number of climbers and workers in the individual mines.

First traditions

Mine owners and employees paid fixed amounts into the “can” for the social security of miners and smelters.

In Altenberg in the Ore Mountains , the local miners' union decided around 1450 that the miners would pay a penny a week. These payments were regulated here and in other mining areas in mining regulations. The first of these mountain regulations is the Annaberger Bergordnung of 1509. It was valid in parts of the Electorate of Saxony and was also adopted by the Kingdom of Prussia . In Prussia, this order was replaced by the “Law on the Association of Mining, Huts, Saltworks and Processing Workers in Knappschaften” (Prussian Knappschaftsgesetz) of April 10, 1854, and the miners' union system was reorganized.

Andreas Bingener has published many details on the weekly collection of rifle money in articles on the history of the miners' union. The first evidence of this in the archives dates from the 15th century. After that, every Saturday in the Gosla'er mining area, when the miners were paid their weekly wages, a fixed amount, a Scherf , was withheld and put into the cash box. The Büchsenpfennig index for the years 1543 to 1561 has been handed down from the Freiberg mining district . In it the miners' shank wrote down the corporation's income from the rifle treasury. In the 18th century, payments into the rifle fund were also the main source of income for the Johanngeorgenstadter Knappschaftskasse. Here the Steiger were responsible for collecting the can pennies. Weekly had Hauer three dimes , a servant of two and a mountain Young deposit a dime in the box office. According to the directory from 1730 with the title "Taking the Knappschafts-Gefälles from the quarter of Reminiscere 1730", 331 tusks, 75 servants and 139 cart runners paid a total of 61 guilders plus 10 groschen.

In Schneeberger Bergbaurevier the local mountain order of 1471/72 regulated in § 9 that each Häuer a penny each week Haspler to pay and every mountain boy a penny to entertain the chapel whose lighting and other needs. According to old reports from 1473, the priests held a mass for the miners five times a week before entering the pits. But in addition to these ecclesiastical purposes, the rifle money also served to entertain needy miners or their bereaved families.

Rudolf Mirsch reports on tragic events in the Mansfeld copper slate mining:

“Altogether, up to around 1580, a large number of incidents have been reported, with 50 miners having fatal accidents. So-called brotherhoods and later the miners' associations ensured that with the "rifle pennies" that were paid on the wage days and from other sources a modest "bread of grace" could be granted to the bereaved or to the miners and huts who had become incapacitated. In a description from the year 1730 of an accident near Welfesholz, the burial costs of 6 thalers and the small gift of 2 thalers for the widow were mentioned, among other expenses. The shaft on which this accident happened was for years considered "the shaft on which Hilmar Körner died". "

Mountain regulations for the Duchy of Cleve, the Principality of Moers and the County of Mark

The revised mining regulations for the Duchy of Kleve , the Principality of Moers and the County of Mark from April 29, 1766 put mining under state administration. These regulations also stipulated that the miners of each Reichstaler their wages (1 Rthl. = 60 Stüber had paid) a Stüber in the guild fund. And the trades paid weekly for each applied Häuer a "barrel" (also Ringel ) coals or its monetary value (5 to 6 Stüber).

Here are some excerpts from the miners' fund:

"§ 1. Since we have graciously decreed the establishment of a miners' fund, and for its fund, along with other taxes determined by us, at the same time trades in the metal and mineral mines, the yield of two Kuxsen, on the other hand , of the hard coal mines - every week from each in the viable layers working Häuer proposed barrel 1 coals and calculate. In the event that workers should fall ill or suffer damage in their work, trades should not be burdened with anything else, except that they should give the sick or damaged from the colliery , if it is in yield, for eight weeks, if the The bill, however, is at extra cost, for four weeks, if otherwise the illness or cure last so long and the worker could not go back to work sooner, pay the weekly wages he had previously had at the mercy wage, but the cure from the miners' fund be worn.

§ 2. But should someone die at once while working in the mine, the widows and heirs are to enjoy the grace wages specified here in § 1, but the burial costs are to be paid by the miners' fund.

§ 3. We order our mountain office that they should take a serious look at the fact that this certain grace wage is paid correctly and without any residence by the trades, shift masters or supervisors, but not, as has happened so far, the poor people by which trades are held up by all sorts of tricks and inventions about the fee or even attempted to get rid of them; those trades who make unfounded refusals below should rather be punished according to the fee.

§ 4. However, trades can show that the person who has become sick or has suffered damage receives his mishap from his disorderly way of life, or from his co-workers, deliberate negligenes or malice; So the Mining Office is to investigate the matter, and punish the guilty party as it sees fit. "

Mountain order of the Eißlebisch and Mansfeld mines

  • Title page of the Mansfeld Mountain Regulations from 1674

  • Reprint of the Mansfeld Mountain Regulations from 1674

  • Article 33 of the Mansfeld Mountain Regulations

  • Holiday certificate from the Eisleben Mining Authority

A "Bergordnung" from 1674 (see illustration) regulated the miners' union in the county of Mansfeld .

Article XXXIII of these regulations stipulated with regard to can pennies that

“Each shift supervisor should collectively collect the can pennies from his assigned mines, as well as the smelters in the huts, each one with his duties, with all workers weekly as a reminder of 2 pfennigs of each gold, and all quarters BergVoigt , Richter and Schöppen, if the miners' elders are supposed to be at the same time, answer to the calculation, then afterwards harmed the poor and old Berg = and Hütten = people, also their widows and children, so remove them from the Berg = and Hütten = people, go after, for their entertainment, on amicable appreciation of the mountain officials, contributions are given, and donated to the poor from it, also on income and expenditure correct quarter liters deposited at the union's house, and what comes every time, at BergVoigt in its solid box To which He, and the scoop, special keys are to be kept safe: Besides this mistake before poor presshaffte and hard-working mountain = and huts = workers, the mountain, which was made in ancient times and still passable, and Hospital S.Catharinæ, in which the status and nature as the foundation wants, should also remain permanently "

- Article 33 of the Mansfeld Mountain Regulations

These mining regulations were valid until 1865 and were replaced by the provisions of the “General Mining Act for the Prussian States of June 24, 1865”. In its seventh title: "From the Knappschaftsvereinen", it says in paragraph 165 u. a .: "Miners' associations should exist for the workers of all mines and processing plants subject to the current law, as well as for the workers of the salt works, which have the purpose of providing support to their participants and their relatives according to the more detailed provisions of the law".

The Eisleber-Wiederstedter Büchsenkasse

By 1819 at the latest, in addition to the miners in the occupied areas, the workforce of the Ober- and Mittelhütte, the Mansfeld Hütten, the Gottesbelohnungs- and Seigerhütte, the Morunger Berg- und Hüttenwerk and the workers of the tunnel drifts were recorded in a joint account of the rifle money. The “money flowing into the can” was varied. For the most part they consisted of the so-called rifle pennies of the Steiger and the miners and smelters and the rifle shift money. The amounts to be paid varied. They were between 6 pfennigs and a groschen per thaler of the wages achieved (until 1821 in the Prussian state territory a Reichstaler was equivalent to 24 groschen and a groschen to 12 pfennigs).

In addition, the same group of people had to pay the rifle shift fee in the amount of a shift wage every quarter. For every penny of a wage increase, an additional 4 pfennigs had to be paid into the can on the following pay day. Fees were also to be paid to the rifle cash register for the certificates of commitment handed out during the tusk tests .

Today it seems unusual that every miner and ironworker had to show a so-called "mining office marriage certificate " before the church call according to the Prussian ministerial order of April 15, 1817 . The pastors were legally obliged to marry a miner or smelter only if such authorization could be presented. The reason for this was that the mining authorities demanded that the earnings of the miners and smelters must have reached a level sufficient to be able to feed a family safely. Up to 24-year-olds wishing to marry had to pay 16 groschen to the Bergbüchse for the “marriage certificate”, older only 6 groschen to the Büchsenkasse. The age at marriage was also postponed in the interests of employers. In 1819, of the 28 applications submitted, 26 miners were over 25 years of age.

Unpaid leave was granted on the official holidays and, if the economic situation permitted, also on the occasion of the miners' celebrations. Applications for unpaid leave for personal reasons had to be submitted to the mining authority. Approval took the form of a vacation voucher [see figure on the right], which stipulated that the applicant had to report immediately after the deadline by presenting the voucher if they did not want to lose their mining work with the corresponding benefits. A certificate was also to be submitted about the stay during the vacation period. At the same time, when he was reinstated, a groschen had to be paid for the rifle fund for each week of his vacation time so that he would not be excluded from any support later if necessary. The reasons for vacation could be varied. Four miners were given three months' leave to work as musicians in Alexisbad. In many cases, holidays of up to four weeks were granted for upcoming harvest work. In March 1816, a blacksmith was granted indefinite leave under the same conditions to pursue his occupation outside of mining. The vacation tickets were always sealed and signed by members of the mining authority and were withdrawn when they were reinstated and handed over to the person responsible for the rifle fund, who was responsible for the amount to be paid from the other employment.

In accordance with the articles of association, the copper chamber's trading post was able to transfer around 47 thalers to the rifle cash register in 1819 from the sale of materials. Contributions that were included from other sources were even less significant in their amount. This included fines that were withheld from wages, small amounts of money for the production of print products for the administrations in huts and shafts and also 2 groschen for each mountain rope delivered. In 1819, for example, 17 mountain ropes were delivered. A thaler 10 groschen was verifiably charged for this.

On special instructions, all officers (civil servants) had to pay three percent of the salary received from 1815 and of salary supplements to the rifle fund. In total, an income of around 3240 thalers was achieved for 1819. However, the expenditure reached 4,925 thalers. The most important item of expenditure was the weekly allowances for disabled people, widows and children amounting to around 4,580 thalers. 189 Taler 9 Groschen were paid for the position of sick pay and funeral contributions. The surplus of the Bergkatharinenstift was also available for special cases. In the same period, 13 thaler 16 groschen were paid out for needy miner's children.

The union subsidy granted in the course of the year amounted to a total of 1,400 thalers based on the quarterly partial amounts. The expenses could not be completely covered by the income in the accounting year under review, even with the union subsidies.

literature

  • Andreas Bingener: poor box or miner's rifle . The fight of the Gosla miners for their own social security. In: THE SECTION . Issue 5–6, No. 61 , 2009, p. 294-301 .
  • Claus Brabant, Doris Grand-Ivic: Miners and mountain brotherhoods in the Saxon Ore Mountains . Ed .: Auer Employment Initiative e. V. Druckerei & Verlag Mike Rockstroh, Aue June 2004, p. 96 ( Table of Contents [PDF; accessed on December 11, 2012]).
  • Albert Caron: The reform of the miners 'union and general workers' insurance . Berlin 1882.
  • Günter Horn : The eldest miners in the central German mining regions . Bochum 2000.
  • Ulrich Lauf : The Knappschaft . Asgard-Verlag Hippe, Sankt Augustin 1994.
  • Adolf Menzel: Workers' insurance under Austrian law . With consideration of the German imperial law. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, p. 504 ( digitized version [accessed on December 11, 2012] systematically edited by Adolf Menzel).
  • Past and future of social security systems using the example of the Federal Miners' Union and its successors . A research project of the Leibniz Association. In: Christoph Bartels, Lars Bluma et al (Eds.): Yearbook for Economic History 2009 . No. 2 , p. 195-217 .
  • Christoph Bartels (Ed.): Occupational risk and social security . Contributions to the conference "Past and future of social security systems using the example of the Federal Miners' Union and its successors" Bochum 2010.
  • Adolf Arndt; Kuno Frankenstein (ed.): Handbook and textbook of political science in separate volumes . First Department of Economics. XI. Volume mining and mining policy. Published by CL Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1894.

Web links

Wikisource: Accident Insurance Act, Regulations on Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaften (German Reich 1884)  - Sources and full texts

References and comments

  1. ↑ Andrea Riedel: Knappschaft - what is that? April 2, 2009, accessed February 5, 2013 .
  2. ↑ On broad shoulders . 750 years of the miners' union. In: Michael Fessner et al (ed.): Catalog of the exhibition of the German Mining Museum Bochum . Bochum 2010.
  3. ^ Rudolf Mirsch: Tragic events from 800 years of the Mansfeld mining industry . Association of the Mansfeld Miners and Huts People eV -In: Mansfeld-Echo, company newspaper between Harz and Halle (Saale) and beyond, Volume 20/93 No. 3/2014. Ed. Ursula Weißenborn, Hergisdorf.
  4. ^ Rudolf Mirsch: From the rifle funds to the unified miners' fund in the Mansfeld region . In: Mansfeld-Echo . 18th year / 85. No. 3 , September 28, 2012, p. 44 ( HTML [accessed December 16, 2012]).